Dry fruits export from Afghanistan

Dry fruits export from Afghanistan: on the drawing board with Mohammad Edrees Dowarie

Mohammad, you did a research on dry fruits and its role in Afghan economy. Why have you decided to bring up this topic?

"The reason why I choose this topic is that I hope that Afghanistan could regain its position as the largest supplier of dry fruits in the world."

What are the main results of your analysis and what has to be done to fulfill this goal?

"Firstly, we still continue to export products. However, they have low quality. That is why we need to reprocess and re-evaluate our production so that it would meet international standards. Secondly, Afghan farmers are not motivated enough to cultivate fruits because of the revenues. Therefore, incentives should be provided. Sustaining dry fruit prices could be one of these."

Higher revenues from fruits cultivation would also help to transform opium cultivations into fruit based productions, right?

"Exactly. I think that destroying opium cultivations is not the best way to solve the problem of narcotic traffic. To face this problem, other countries should engage themselves in controlling and decreasing their internal demand. Providing support to alternative cultivation is the path to follow to fight against narcotics trafficking. Since narcotics traffic is also connected to security, this measure would also help in increasing overall Afghan security."

Coming back to your research, would you like to put forward any other suggestion?

"Sure. What I would also like to put forward is that infrastructures and water supply are fundamental and needed. With no connection among provinces there is no development. Finally, other countries are exporting goods to Afghanistan using dumping measures. That is why we need tariffs on imported goods."

Mohammad Edrees is a student of Economics at the faculty of economics at the University Kabul. He takes part in the IV NATO Afghan Student Forum held in Berlin.

by Vera Ragone